Crossing Borders
by anacsadder
Summary: A work in progress. Two girls on a plane pass through some strange turbulence and end up not only in the wrong city, but the wrong dimension. Here, they have several whacky adventures. Language warning.
1. We're Not in Kansas Anymore

FATR: Sage and I have been working on this RPG for a while now. All my creativity is being put into this, and as such stories are being neglected. For my readers, Sage and I have agreed to post this on the site. I've tried to fix most of the blatant typos, but for the most part, it is posted in it's entirety.Sage's parts are written in bold, mine are in plain text. We don't own Spider-Man, anything related to The Dark Tower, basically all we own are Sage, Ana, and the snooty airline person. Forgive the disorganization, it is a work in progress. We're making it up as we go along. And by the way, CKCrimson King. It's a dark tower thing. Enjoy chip chip one!

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Ana sat on the plain, staring out the window at the night sky. However, all she could see was blackness. How boring. If her lap top hadn't run out of batteries, she could be drooling over the sexy sexiness that is Otto Octavius right now. On the other hand--if the sleeping lady next to her wasn't being such a bitch--Ana could have been ogling her eight-limbed sex god using the overhead light and her favorite comic book.

**Across the aisle, peering down in hopes of seeing some lights, however faint or misty, Sage sat with her discmin cranked, the Linkin Park ignored by the deaffish senior sitting beside her. She had batteries, a 24-pack; there was something to be said for the traveling music junkie, really....It was understandable, though; listening to music was an alternative to sleep... **

There was a jolt of turbulence and the fasten seat belt sign blinked on. Ana grinned. She loved turbulence, it was just the thing to spice up this long boring flight. Just like a roller coaster.

**A few people looked uncomfortable, a few, like Ana, were grinning, and others continued to sleep soundly, for lack of better things to do.**

Ana continued to peer out the window, even as the turbulence intensified. The lady next to her awoke with a squawk as a particularly hard jolt sent her orange juice flying. Ana was just glad her treasured comic books were safe in her bag.

**Throughout all of this, Sage had still been watching carefully for a glimmer of lights below, unable to hear anything but the introduction to Place for My Head; as a result, the change of the hair-color of the woman in from of here, for example, went largely unnoticed.**

Ana looked up from cradling her bag of comic books and yelped. The young woman next to her had turned into an old man. Ana popped her belt and jumped up to look around. Had the woman moved? The people across the way were different as well, except for the girl with the head phones. "Um... sir... what happened to the woman who was sitting here?"

The man gave her a strange look. "I've been sitting here the entire flight, dear. I don't know anything about any woman."

**The rest of the flight passed quickly, although with a vague confusion. However, it was not until the plane was cleared out, and the passengers were greeted by a sign welcoming them to New York that the basis of that confusion was recognized, and spazzed out over; Sage, still clutching her carry-on, blinked, froze and began muttering an interesting string of obscenities for lack of a constructive reaction.**

Ana stood in the terminal staring at the sign. She felt a mild sort of panic beginning to set in. She had somehow gotten on the wrong plane, and was now miles away from anyone she knew with only twenty bucks, a month-old stick of gum, and no where to go. Well, she had her Otto baby, at least. It was childish, but she didn't care. When things got bad, she ran to her dolly like a sissy little girl. "It's not a dolly, it's an action figure," she muttered as she dug around in her back pack and pulled out her six inch dr. octopus action figure. It was the perfect size to fit in the palm of her hand, and the softness of the rubber coat was always a comfort to her.

**"I am so profoundly screwed," The Wee One was muttering to herself, or to her muse, which was both sad and random. Usually comments were directed to an inanimate object, or---what? "Let's see..." On AIM, didn't she know somebody in New York...so some help wouldn't be too far, right? Of course, finding the contact required finding a computer, and it wasn't as though she had a library card with her. Some money, yes, having been traveling a fair distance, regardless, but New York was not Bangor, by any stretch of the imagination. "...Once again," A smack down via the Law of Universal Spite.**

Ana swung her bag onto her back and looked around, trying to think rationally. "Okay, I have to find someone who looks official..." She went up to the counter by the loading doors, one hand squeezing her action figure as though he were the only source of safety. There were already people talking to the man behind the counter so Ana stood patiently awaiting her turn.

**Sage's plans turned out similar; might as well try to figure out what twisted jest of fate had resulted in this misjaunt. She joined in the line, and, waiting as patiently as possible, was nine songs into Meteora before eight people had passed; would she be done before the CD? Doubtful.**

As Ana waited, she fiddled with the tentacle attack feature on her action figure. She tried positioning the claws different ways, thinking about the behind the scenes ockumentary on her DVD. Let's see, there was the attack position, the defense position, the ball position--used for smashing through things, tee hee. Ana looked around the unfamiliar airport, goldfish attention span kicking in. The girl behind her was listening to music. There was somebody pointing in her direction and whispering. Ana looked over her shoulder, trying to see what they were talking about, but her turn at the counter came before she could get that far on that train of thought.

**"May I help you?" Spiritual brother to a Mr. Stewart Ullman, the man behind the desk raised an eyebrow, tone indicating he'd rather do anything but.**

"Well, you see..." Ana shifted nervously. "I'm a bit lost. I'm supposed to be in Bangor... but it seems I got on the wrong plane?"

**"And, miss, just what are you suggesting I should do about it?" He stepped back, crossing his arms and not allowing the eyebrow to drop.**

**A spot behind Ana, CDs were being switched.**

Ana shrugged and looked at her feet. "Well, I..." she put both her hands on the desk. "I don't have any money, or anywhere to stay... What should I do?"

**"Providing me with a ticket as some evidence you didn't just waltz in off the street, looking for a free ride would certainly be a start."**

Ana nodded, "Right. Okay, hold on..." She put her action figure on the desk and swung her back pack onto one shoulder so she could dig through it. Her search of every pocket yielded nothing. She frantically searched every pocket of her baggy black boy's jeans but only came up with an old crumpled admit slip. "Dammit, I must have left it in the back of the seat." She picked up her action figure and leaned on the desk imploringly. "I don't have it, but you have to believe me, please."

**"...Well, I will help you." He scribbled something down on a small form and set it briskly on the counter-top, pushing it to her side. "To help yourself. Go to the airport bus, take it. If you're still on the grounds by the time the next flight leaves, I'll see to it, personally, that you're removed from them. Now, with that," he gestured with the pen at said form, "You won't have to worry about bus fare, isn't that nice? Now, don't waste my time; leave. Next!"**

**Pulling back her headphone without turning them off, the Wee One moved forward, beginning to explain. **

**"Hey, I was supposed to get to Bangor, but ther--"**

**"Another?! GO! Out with you!" This time the scribbling was on a sticky note, and Uliton, a tall, hemmhriodal fellow, leaned over the counter to slap it onto the girl's shoulder, and nudge her to the side. "Again; next!"**

Ana stopped walking for a minute to glare at the man behind the counter. He was yelling at some other poor girl now. "Bastard," Ana muttered. "I how could I waltz in off the goddamned streets... I swear," this was directed at her action figure, "if you were real I would have you kick his ass. No one would dare say no to..." She walked away fantasizing the way only a totally obsessed fangirl can about what would happen if her Otto baby was real and here right now.

**"The hell was THA--"**

**"Go! Out of here, with your little friend!"**

**"Go to hell!" This last comment of Sage's was the result of receiving a stronger nudge, which was more of a push. Lugging her bag, she caught up to Ana and made a small opoponax gesture. "Hi. Apparently we're assumed to be in on something; what did you say to piss off Jeeves back there?"**

"I think I ended up on the wrong plane. I'm supposed to be in Bangor, the stupid airline brought me to New York, and the power hungry bastard behind the counter went all ballistic because I couldn't produce my ticket stub. He was, however, nice enough to give me a bus pass," this comment was laced with sarcasm. "Which doesn't do me an ounce of good because I have no where to go with it."

**"Harsh. Harsh! And I feel your pain....a stewardess took my stub when I got on the plane, hence my total lack of proof, and right now, I should be asking Stephen King to sign my ankle in marker so I can go get it tattooed on." She sighed. "Well, looks like we're both screwed. I'm Sage, by the way," 'Sage of Darkness' was embroidered, in red, on the side of her black duffel bag, above a verse of Plato--"Were that we were better met."**

Ana grinned. "Stephen King is the master of horror, him and Wes Craven. I'm Ana by the way. Would you like to join Otto and me on our bus ride to no where?"

**"You like King, you like cheesy horror, I have nowhere to go, no reason not to." The grin was returned, and Sage laughed a little at their sad situation. "You know, this is one of those times where I think it would be a good idea to find someone vending some sort of junk food, sit outside, and hope CK throws something our way."**

As they started waking together, a thought occurred to Ana. "Hey, did you notice anything... weird during the turbulence?"

**"I was looking out the window almost all the time--I don't get to travel often--but don't stewardesses usually switch in the middle of a flight, or not all?"**

Worry wrinkled Ana's brow as she thought about this. "I didn't think that they changed at all, but I never pay much attention to them anyway. I just could have sworn the person next to me... I mean, I know women don't spontaneously age forty years and turn into men. Right?" This was a serious question, and she looked to Sage hoping for a serious answer.

**"With the exception of Barbara Streisand, yeah." She blinked. "...I missed a lot, didn't I?"**

Ana laughed despite the distressing situation. So much for serious answers. They were approaching the front doors of the airport now. "Either you missed a lot or I have finally gone off the deep end. Though, I heard somewhere that if one is willing to entertain the idea that one is crazy then one is actually quite sane." She stood on the sidewalk, already feeling the smog curling its evil fingers into her lungs. "Now what?"

**Sage's grin widened. "What? I'm serious; there was this one before/after makeup picture I found, on the internet....so, no comment on that." She paused, considering. "We hop the bus and stay on it until we see some decent reason to get off?"**

The bus pulled up relatively quickly, probably the great one apologizing for sticking the two girls in such an unfortunate predicament. It was a start, at least. Ana and Sage climbed on board and found two seats next to each other. As the doors closed and the bus pulled away, Ana put her back pack between her feet and pulled the crumpled admit slip out of her pocket. She commenced trying to pick the little ball up with the lower pincers of her action figure, failing the first two times.

**The third was greeted with some applause. "Bravo! Any idea where we get off?"**

"Nope." Ana looked around. "If we can get to a computer or a phone, I can try to contact home, I suppose."

**"Same." They rode on in silence for a little while, it being interrupted by one of the world's more childish temptations; "Hey! Looks like there's lotas of geese i this park, let's get off here?"**

Ana raised her eyebrow at Sage, then slowly grinned as well. "Yeah!"

**"Yes!" Shortly, the Wee One was standing in a small crowd of the birds; assuming they were going to be fed, they had gathered around her. This continued for a moment, then there was an indignant honking and rustle of half-flaps as a small sprint ended with one of the older geese being held on the ground, wings to its back. "Third catch!"**

Ana laughed as she jogged after Sage. "Yay! You caught dinner! Now we can..." She trails off as she hears a loud and all too familiar boom. Her eyes show puzzlement for a moment then light up as a queer sort of hope dawns. She turns to Sage, eyes all aglow. "Do you hear what I hear?"

**"Hmn?" She blinked, straightening up, the goose seizing the chance to waddle away. "That thud?"**

"Doesn't it sound, well, familiar?" Ana barely waited a second for the response. She was off in lala land now. "Come one, let's go check it out!" She took off across the park, again barely waiting for a response.

**"Wait up! I have shorter legs!" Now, and only now, the discmin was paused, cutting off the screams mid-verse in By Myself. "For the love of god, hold on!"**

**At least the geese were cheered.**

Ana stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, gazing up in awed delight. It didn't matter if it was real or a show. If the red and blue figure she saw flip through the air and land on the side of a building was real, then you know who couldn't be far behind. Sure enough, a figure in a dark trench coat appeared over the edge of the building, metal tentacles gleaming in the sunlight. "Oh... my... god..." Ana gazed on in wonder and shock as the two figures continued to fight.

**"... I... second that..." Indeed. If the situation was resolved without extensive personal injury, Sage resolves, then she was definitely going to get a tattoo of the Crimson King's crest in the near future! "This is awesome!"**

"It's... Otto..." Ana gaped. "He's real! He's really real!" Ana clutched her action figure to her chest and jumped up and down, squealing. "My eight-limbed sex god is REAL! OTTO!"

**"Man, it goes beyond that! Other realities are real, which means there has to be more, which means there has to be all, which means ALL of it's true, real, whatever!" The tower, too, somewhere. "Huzzah!**"

The two men, half way down the building, stopped dead in their tracks. Otto had his claw fastened around Peter's neck, and Peter had a webline attached to one of the other tentacles. Otto looked at Peter and blinked. "Did you just hear that?"

**"...well, this is great. They must've heard something." Sage snorted, and lightly whapped Otto's fangirl. "Need to know a little more on the present situation before drawing any attention to ourselves, or at least we should!...don't tell me they're looking this way, they're going to look this way, yes, they are looking this way..." **

"It's not his fault, really. He's not a bad guy, but the tentacles... I would still love to be taken hostage, though. I mean..." Ana stopped babbling as what Sage had just said slowly registered. "Oh, I guess you're right, huh?" She blushed sheepishly.

**"Yeah, but it's a little late for that." She shrugged, sighed, smiled, and laughed her oh-dear-god laugh, gesturing in the direction of the comic-book characters. "Seeing as we now have their attention, and most people have vacated the area..."**

Ana looked up to see Otto beginning to descend the building. She grinned at Sage. "It would give us a place to stay, would it not?" She giggled.

**"...oh, man, so, what? I have to be the responsible one this time? You can't do this to me...." Laughing, she trailed off. "You know what? We're insane. Of course, we're also broke, lost, and sojourners...and just standing here, chatting patiently."**

"While the world's sexiest super villain approaches, possibly with intentions to take us away and shackle us up in his secret lab..." Ana trails off as she ponders the fact that this might not be so bad.

**Sage shook her head, able to stop laughing but not without a grin remaining. Well, she'd grin at anything, something which had been helpful in the past. "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to avoid being shackled to anything...but, it's a road less traveled."**

"I wonder if he knows who Spider-Man is yet. I mean, just think, you and I know who Spider-Man is. Just imagine what we could do with that information!"

**"Rule E-bay? Seriously, though, it would be interesting to see just how far we could get trying to explain the differences of reality without actual proof...If not deemed nutters, at least."**

Ana grinned and patted her bag. "I never go anywhere without my trusty comic books, just in case a situation like this arises. Well, not just like this, but... well, you know what I mean." She turned to the approaching octopus. "What would happen, do you suppose, if someone here saw them?"

**"Chaos, panic, disorder....nah, not really." The Wee One shrugged, shaking her head. "Probably confuse and disturb the hell out of the people featured, and not much else, but--crap!" Hurriedly, she pulled the headphones from around her neck, stuffing them into the discmin case, with the CDs, and pushing that into her bag, which, although held tightly, was not reshouldered. "Gotta protect that."**

The Wee One couldn't have put her discmin away sooner because just as she did, a tentacle shot out and locked around her waist. Ana had a tentacle secured around her waist, and she had gone into an almost catatonic state of silence. However, where an uninformed outsider might interpret it as shocked fear, it was really shocked elation. It was any fangirl's dream to see the tentacles up close, even touch them, but to be held by one was just sensory overload.

**There was a indignant squawk following this, and Sage had to twist to finish zipping her bag and secure her grip on it. "Damn, this is awkward." This comment was the truth, just precluded by evidence of bad role models.**

Otto brought the two girls in close and eyed them. He didn't know who they were, but they would do. He turned to Spider-Man, holding the girls in front of him. "Don't follow me," he hissed as he rose up on his back tentacles and began stomping away.

**"Oh, man..." If I hadn't been on so many fair rides which involved tight restraints around one's middle the reason for this being extended periods of inversion, the fantasist decided, I would so sick right now...As it was, though, if one overlooked the motion being made a bit odd, it wasn't bad; much better than a metal bar just there, and without the buckles of canvas straps, which seemed to constantly search for a home in one's hip, side, or thigh. And she still had her bag.**

Ana was, for the first time in the last half hour, completely speechless. She ran her fingers over the segments, mouth not smiling, but her eyes were practically glowing. She looked across Otto's head at Sage and flashed her a ten thousand watt smile.

**Unable to be heard, the reply was summed up in an upward glace and flick of the palm, the gesture saying just as clearly; 'God, just what are we into this time?' It was opoponax, but, hey, also interesting.**

It wasn't as uncomfortable riding in the tentacles as Ana would have expected. She shifted a bit, rested back against her back pack, and made sure she had a firm grip on her action figure. "I say we just go with the flow," she shrugged, turning to admire the way the light wind ruffled Otto's hair.

**"Not that many other options, are there?" Once more, the dear-god laugh tm! made a brief appearance. And why shouldn't it? The layers of reality this foreshadowed were astounding....not to mention the situation at hand.**

The had covered several miles quite quickly due to the inhuman speed of Otto's super sexy tentacles. There was a little village of abandoned warehouses approaching on the horizon.

**Well, patience was a virtue, but curiosity was stronger. By far. "Excuse me," Ah, but this was tricksy, finding a fitting point of reference in an event like this, "Dr. Octavius, but just to where are we going?" Relatively normal tone of voice, although being held by the tentacle and still keeping a tight grip on the duffel bag hadn't ceased to be awkward; speaking of the mechanical limb, it was probably a good thing Sage hadn't eaten much that day. Maybe an oatmeal bar on the plane, a glass of pop.**

"For now your lives are currency, to exchange for some peace from that inane arachnid aberration. However, you also intrigue me. You're not from around here?"

Ana flashed Sage a look that meant 'Isn't he just so hot?'

**"Nah," The zipper on the left side of her bag was beginning to open, due to the repeated jarring from the steps of the tentacles, and was promptly rezipped. "Actually, I'm from Saskatchewan..."**

Ana was too shy to speak at first. Hey, it's easy to bubble and drool over the object of one's affections in private, but when faced with him, she couldn't find anything to say.

"Saskatchewan? I do not believe I am familiar with that place."

**"Very flat part of Canada; think Children of the Corn, only with wheat, and old people, and you won't be too far off." She could only shrug. "It's like a bubble, I'm afraid."**

Otto looked at the shorter one with a raised eyebrow. "Children of the Corn?"

**"Horror flick, not a bad short story."**

Otto set down outside one of the warehouses. "I see. What is your name?"

**"I'm usually referred to as Sage or Wee One, and answer to either." She gave the warehouse an appraising glance, noting that the glass in the door hadn't yet been broken by vandals. "This is opoponax..."**

Otto turned to the other girl. "And you are?"

Ana felt her cheeks getting hot and hunched her shoulders. "Ana," she whispered in a barely audible voice.

**"...so..." Man, this was awkward, and desperately so. "If we could have an idea of what to expect over the next little while? 'For we are strangers with you, and sojourners, that we may recover, before we go hence and are no more?'"**

Otto seemed to disregard this as he slid a little plastic card out of a latent pocket. He slid it into a crack between two boards. There was a chirp as the door swung open a crack. Otto deposited the card in the same pocket and pushed the door open. What met Ana's eyes was so amazing it temporarily washed all thoughts of Otto from her mind.


	2. Introductions and Odd Queries

FATR: Sage and I switch off control of Otto from time to time, when my character load becomes too intense and she only has one character to deal with. I am proud to take personal responsibility for converting Sage to a Mac fangirl. It is "Opening the Gate" that converted her and almost converted me. Beware. Let's see, we have several more Dark Tower references, but I believe Sage is set to go off on a Dark Tower rant a few chip chips from now so hang tight. And yes, Femme Mishima, Otto had no idea what he was getting his cute little self into when he picked us up, teehee. Just you wait until the next two chip chips or so, when I get into my rant about the Great Converter. CD Anders and I aren't really writing the fic together like Sage and I are. I was more of a consultant for Anders. Sage and I are actually taking turns writing pieces of this. BTW, there is not looking like this is going to turn into romance, so I'll just let you get onto this installment, with the reminder that Sage and I don't own jack shit.

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**"Holy crap; cool!" Sage peered in at the plush interior, raising an eyebrow. "Funky..." Some small, framed print caught her eye, despite it seeming to be only a small charcoal sketch, a skeletal, crowned figure on a nag. She took a few steps forward for a better look, not quite crossing the doorway. "Isn't that a Durer?"**

"It is."

**"Cool...he was a very talented man. Have you gotten the chance to take a look at his sketch for Goya? 'The sleep of reason breeds monsters,' I believe is the quote it illustrated."**

"I have a compilation of Drurer's work." The conversation ended with that. They stood around the room under the weight of the silence. It was broken by Ana's laughter.

**"Never a bad thing, I guess." Sage turned, raising an eyebrow at Ana, and despite efforts to suppress it, began to smile. "You're a nut, you know that?"**

She was an Otto fangirl, and they had been abducted by Otto. If they had landed in the reality of one of her other objects of fangirldom... well, things may not have turned out so well. "It just occurred to me. I mean, I'm a bit of a Michael Myers fan as well, what if we had ended up there instead?" Ana knew the idea of being eviscerated shouldn't be that funny, but things had been so absurd lately, she had to laugh. "Or what about Freddy..." she giggled.

**"Then we'd be stuck together in the sisterhood of the severely screwed, rather than that of the simply screwed." Sage started to chuckle, as well. "However! I'm assuming the Crimson King is responsible for this, and to quote about the Random; while seen as malevolent by many, the force is strangely protective."**

They really were quite odd, the both of them. What was this Crimson King Sage was going on about now? And there was, of course, the comment that had drawn him down the building in the first place. "There was something I meant to inquire of you before. Earlier, I overheard a comment about somebody's eight-limbed--"

**"No offence, but IT WAS HER!" Sage pointed at Ana, caught at the midpoint between completely serious and curled into a small, hysterically laughing heap on the floor. She still didn't know which she would act upon. "I already have a crush." One which was probably as fictional as Octavius was supposed to be, whiling away the time in Endsville, at the moment, in all probability.**

Ana blinked and looked from one to the other. "Well, that's not entirely untrue, I suppose," she blushed. Just then a door at the back opened and out walked a green clad figure. His large green tail swished restlessly behind him.

"Hey, Ock, Fisk's commin by at eight tah see-"

"Hey," Ana pointed. "You're Scorpion, Mac Gargan, whatever. Sage, look, it's another... Sage?"

**"Awesome!" Sage was watching, delighted, and with a renewed grin. Hell, the way this was going, one of them would own Oxford Blues, Sharkmeat Pie, something along those lines!...actually, in retrospect, if one were to look at the narration of The Fifth Quarter, Stark's works probably would appeal to Mac, the short stories especially; short, brutal, and violent. But well-written, nevertheless... "Hullo!"**

Ana blinked and a grin spread across her face and she nodded knowingly. "Oh, yes, I know that look." In a lower voice she whispered, "Sage is in looove..."

"**Hey, screw you!" This response was indignant. "I'm not in love, I've yet to be in love--with one minor obsession, but that's more for conversation!--and I'm pretty sure I'll end up some weird cat lady when I'm old." She made a small opoponax gesture, out of a mix amusement and frustration. "However, I still think certain people are cool, and accents are funky. Now that I've finished my rant," The Wee One turned back to Mac, "How're you doing?"**

"Hones'ly? A little confused." Mac looked to Otto for an explanation.

**The scientist in question crossed his human arms, sighed slightly, and began. "During a small scuffle with our wall-crawling acquaintance, I sought a means of leaving without being further harassed. These two attracted my attention with a... rather interesting... comment, and, as a result, were used as that means." He shrugged, spreading his hands. Tentacles One and Two mimicked the action to a lesser degree. "And that, is why I've returned with unexpected company."**

Ana had a brief, quiet, and internal fangirl moment watching the tentacles.

Mac nodded. "An' how long are yah stayin?" He asked the one who was favoring him with a mildly starry-eyed look.

**"I have no idea." Now, able to switch the shoulder her bag rested on, Sage did so with evident relief. It was surprisingly heavy, a number of hardcovers crammed in with clothes and foodstuff. "Until something happens to greater alter the situation, I suppose; we got kicked out of the airport for supposed fraud."**

"I'm still silently loathing that bastard," Ana agreed, a little cheerily considering the words. "I suppose I wouldn't feel too sorry if I found his corpse minus an organ or two."

**"I know! I mean it's like; okay, two people lost. The only help we got were bus passes and shoves out, basically." Sage nodded. "Personally, I hope he has his nuts ruptured, or something to that effect...regardless, though, we're here now."**

Ana nodded enthusiastically. "It sure beats the hell out of Bangor." She gave Otto a sideways glance, saw one of his tentacles watching, and quickly looked away.

Mac smiled. They weren't half bad, really. He extended a hand to the shorter one. "Name's Mac, but'cha know tha' already. An' yah are...?"

**She shook it, cheerful. "Sage, pleased to meet you." Even under these conditions, and why not? They weren't bad conditions, if one were to look at the larger scale. "So, how goes life?"**

Mac was surprised to hear this. It's not everyday that someone is glad to see a super villain. "Pretty much been tryin tah find a way tah turn normal again. Knocked over a newsstand yesterday..."

**"Good luck with that, man." At the mention of newsstands, Sage shook her head. "God! Some of those things are terrible; worst headline I ever saw was like 'Bigfoot Hooker Tells All!' and runner-up goes to 'Trout-People Invade Alaska.'" Fortran events were always mocked...**

Ana blinked. "Wait, is that a hooker with big feet, or Big Foot's hooker?"

**"Judging by the cover, it was Bigfoot as a hooker."**

Ana and Mac laughed hysterically at the image that conjured to mind. When Ana's laughter subsided, she turned to Otto. "Hey, by the way, there's something I've always wondered..."

"**And what would that be?" An eyebrow was raised, although it wouldn't really show behind the glasses. Some habits of expression were hard to break, was all.**

"There's this rumor I heard, I've actually participated in extensive debates about it... Um, you're tentacles, or actuators, or whatever, do they really talk to you?"

**"Extensive debates?" A small smile; if nothing else, it was amusing that they'd carry on discussion of such a topic to the point 'extensive' could be used in an accurate description. "I don't believe I'll ask with whom, but yes, they do. End debate?"**

Ana grinned. When she got home, if she ever got home, the things she could tell the fangirls at Heck, maybe she'd even write a story about it. "Just one more thing, if you don't mind my asking so many questions... Are they, like, one entity or do they have separate personalities?"

"**Must you know?"**

**In the background, there came a cheerful remark: "Shot down!**

**Chuckling at that, Octavius considered his answer, using the dramatic silence, before breaking it with a simple, reasonable reply. "They're 'like' both, depending on the situation, although it's usually, and most accurately, the latter."**

"I knew it," Ana whispered to herself. Though she doubted anyone on would believe that THE REAL Dr. Octopus had told her that. She nodded at the octopus and said, "Okay, now end debate."

"**Alright. Now," he shifted his gaze to Mac, making a small do-carry-on gesture with one hand; One twitched, just faintly, its motion following the action. "what was it you were saying before interruptions of introductions and odd queries?"**

Mac stared at him. "Why can't'cha jus' speak plain English for once, doc?"

**"But I am. However, it's beside the point; what was it you were going to tell me?"**

Mac looked puzzled for a second, then realization dawned. "Yeah, Fisk's commin by at eight. Said somethin about a mule."

**"I see..." This was given no real response. "I suppose it'll break the monotony."**

"What would the Kingpin want with a mule?" Ana asked, looking from one super villian to the other.

"**Drug shipping, of course." Octavius blinked, surprised. "Other avenues of opportunity were, to say the least, inappropriate at the time--conspicous. So, an individual was hired to mule a small load."**

Ana thought this over for a second, then nodded, turning her attention else where. Even though she was one of Otto's biggest fangirls--and this was a once in a life time experience--there were times when her attention span was rather akin to that of a goldfish. Under other circumstances, she probably would have elected to read one of her spider-man comics again, but she figured she should wait a couple of days before allowing people here to see them. There was always her Hellraiser comic. She had gotten collection two for Christmas, and she couldn't wait to read Songs of Metal and Flesh. She wished she had brought Weave World by Clive Barker, but... well, if her lap top had batteries she could start keeping track of everything that had happened. She absently toyed with the action figure as she thought. Oh, Christ, the action figure! She stuffed it in her bag quickly and zipped it up.

**"So..." Sage began, then trailed off. The 'so' thing was a sort of verbal identifying mark, known to drive acquaintances to distraction when declared repeatedly over boring days or afternoons; it was said when there wasn't anything to say, and as well, it started too many sentences. "So...it's what, seven-thirty now, so what is there to be done?"**

**"Personally? Maintenance." Otto turned, intending to retreat to his work area for that purpose. "Doubtless, I'll be back with you, shortly. In the meantime, Gargan, if you would keep a watch on our visitants?"**

"So..." Mac echoed. "Yah never mentioned yah name."

Ana looked up. "Hm, oh, it's Ana." She looked at Sage. "Now what?"

**"Now, I have no idea..." She shrugged, half-laughing, and turned to Mac. "Well, it seems like we may be here for a bit....care to show us around?" After all, beyond the view of door and windows, it seemed carefully set-up.**

"Okay, uh," Mac looked around and gestured them over to a corner set up with a couch, two arm chairs, and a little TV. "Here e have the livin room. Guess it aint really a room, more like an area. The door Ock jus' wen' through goes tah the lab. We ain't really allowed in there." He led them to the other side of the warehouse where there were two other doors. "My room's in there," he pointed to the door on the right. "An' Ock's room's in there," he pointed to the one on the left. "But he's usually in 'is lab. Don' know for sure, 'cause the subject never came up, but I don' think either of yah should go in 'is room without permission either." He stopped as if waiting to see if either one of them had any questions.

**"Fair enough." The Wee One nodded. "So! A topic..." It wasn't as if there was anything wrong with mundane discussion in this scenario, right? After all, once the twilight-zone theme song faded, and the temptation to rant and rave about the Random and Purpose was suppressed, it became like forward motion; the only thing which mattered, being the only thing left. "Hobbies, interests? Aside from the obvious, I mean."**

Mac pondered this for a while. "Action movies, sometimes reality TV shows, my favorite movie was Bad Taste..." He snapped his fingers. "Hey, yah wanna see my can collection?"

"**I liked Rose Red, but as for action, hmn, the Tremors movies were good. Ever see them?" And the mention of a can collection, something so completely random, she broke into a grin. "Sure! That sounds funky!"**

**Elsewhere, on the side of a road...**

**"I don't care who's off-shift, you will call another!" In foul temper as hossing his weight almost continously over the past several days had caused his favourite limo to, more or less, begin to burn out, Wilson Fisk watched his driver with a flat glare, the unfortunate man scrambling for the radio. Yes, bullet-proof glass, self-sealing tires, heavily enforced body....but, for all that, a car was a car, not a tank.**

In the warehouse, Mac was saying. "Tremors... Giant worms livin in a desert, right?"

"Did you ever see Tremors four?" Ana asked her two companions.

**"There was a fourth?!" Sage turned to face her, the opoponax gesture already there. "Oh, man, you gotta be kidding me! I always loved Tremours--Bert kicked ass!--but I never heard about a fourth...."**

Mac was opening the door to his room as Ana giggled at this outburst. "It's pretty new actually, though it was straight to video." Her and Sage followed Mac into his room, still chatting. "It was actually more like a prequel, about Burt's ancestor..." Ana trailed off as Mac flicked on the lights. The room was generally a mess, except for one wall which was lined with shelves and shelves of cans. They were polished to gleaming perfection and organized carefully by type, brand, and color. Beer cans, Pepsi cans, coke cans, even josta cans. "Woah..."

**The visiting fantasist shuffled over to admire the stacks. "Dude...that's awesome. I don't even remember pepsi max! Wild cherry, yes, but I didn't know that it was ever canned...I applaud. Is there a nozzala anywhere?"**

Mac was actually beaming with pride. "'M glad someone 'preciates it. Ock calls it a unsanitary habit or somethin like tha'."

**"Pshaw, I still have my first can of guava juice; it never lost the smell--oh, man!" This exclamation was delighted. "You do have a nozzie! That's awesome..."**

**At this point, a belated Kingpin had just made his entrance, complete with escorts. Upon seeing the immediate area empty, he let loose a bellow only aging, hefty persons can. "OCTAVIUS! GARGAN!"**

Mac jumped practically a mile and rushed out into the main room, nearly tripping on himself in his hurry to get there. "Yes, sir, here, sir," he panted.

The ground was shaking a bit as well, heralding Otto's appearance through the lab door. Using all four tentacles, he moved with a fluid sort of grace that made Ana's cheeks flush a slight pinkish color. "Pardon our absence, Master Fisk. I had surmised that this trio would remain here."

**"...No commet, ki."**

**Fisk allowed the silence to weigh itself for another two beats, then, shaking his head, began. "As I'm busy tonight, I won't ask--for the time being. However, you two," He gestured to Otto and Mac, the flab on his arms jiggling in a manner not unlike that of jello in cheesecloth, "will also see to work being done. The mule arrives tonight; however, he has been known to play, to phrase, certain tricks, in the past. Octavius, you are required to test his load upon arrival, seeing whether it's the same load he recieved before boarding the flight. If it is, simply have it ready for pick-up tomorrow evening--he'll be contacted again, at a later date. If not, simply dispose of mule and baggage, but quietly. The both of you may go, but only Octavius is necessary. Questions?"**

Ana again had a quiet fan girl moment imagining Otto dispatching a man with those exquisite tentacles of his.

"No, sir," Otto answered.

**"Excellent. I believe you already have a short profile and pictures of our mule, a mister Robert Dean?"**

"Yes, sir," Otto smiled and briefly flashed an envelope he had tucked into the hidden pocket.

"Why does Ock get all the good jobs?" Mac muttered to himself and kicked at the floor a bit.

**"In that case, I will leave you to your endeavors." With that, and a mode of movement not unlike the Stay-Puf't Sailor, Wilson Fisk made good his exit.**

**"...well, that was different."**

"If my lap top worked, I could do some google searches and find out who else is here," Ana whispered to Sage.

**"Well, what's the matter with it? Google's evil, but it's better than nothing, and no worse than those damned Keebler Elves."**

"It died shortly before we hit the turbulence." Ana's eyes shifted to her sex god. "I bet he has a battery. I'd ask him if I wasn't so shy, damn fangirlness..."

**Sage considered, and made an offer; "I have a bunch of double-A batteries, if they'd work. If not, I could ask, I talk to perfect stangers all the time."**

"You know, it'd be hilarious if the elves were real here..." Ana snickered. "Go ask him."

**"Those elves are evil in pint-sized packages! But fine." Sighing, and inwardly pondering when the whole Keebler Elf thing had started, the sojourner approached Otto, choosing a different form of address this time. Hey, it was still polite. "Excuse me, sai Octavius?"**

The scientist turned around. "Yes?"

**"I'm asking on behalf of myself and Ana, if you'd have something you'd kindly let us use to revive her laptop. Would you?"**

Behind the glasses Otto's eyes flicked up and to left as he considered this request. "Indeed I do. I am currently in a bit of a rush, but I imagine I could spare an extra few moments." He disappeared into his lab and returned quickly with an extra battery. He presented it to Ana himself. "I expect you to return this."

Ana nodded, eyes wide. "Of course, doctor... I appreciate it."

One of Otto's tentacles placed his hat on his head. He tipped it as a parting gesture, rose up on his tentacles, and climbed out through a high window.

Ana stared after him. "He is so dreamy..."

**"Aww, how sweet..." General, perpetual amusement at life, and all things it involved had apparently returned, in full force, to Sage's outlook; the remark was made with a chuckle, and the grin, or at least a smile, seemed to be more and more constant. "Man, we need to get you a few dozen cameras, a felt pen, and a tattoo artist, so you can have lasting proof of this mess. However, here we are...anyone have a suggestion for wasting time?**

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FATR: Don't try too hard to wrap your individual brains around the dimensions of the warehouse. Very little in this fic will actually make logical sense, I'm sure. Just go with the flow.


	3. A Night Out

FATR: I had so much fun doing these two parts! Seriously, if you're ever going to participate in RPGs, the villain is the most fun character. You can get away with things you could never do in real life! Wow, so far, these were the best times to be Otto and Mac. Well, this and the Liberty seen that's coming up soon, possibly with the next chip chip. Hannibal Lector makes his first appearance here. Watch for it! And be alert for other references!

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**On the arriving flight--from Guatemala, if anyone cared to know--an aging gentleman, dressed in muted greys, wrinkled his nose in distaste at the approaching aromas from the young man across the aisle; sweat, despite the thin--and exceedingly garish--tropical-print shirt he wore, something dry, almost dusty, the next chemical and acidic, although just as dry, and the last was somehow the worst; some awful cologne which, judging from his appearance and the distance between them, could've been brewed in a child's chemistry kit.**

Ana sat at the laptop typing random searches into google. Heehee, apparently there weren't Keebler cookies here, which could either be good news for Sage or bad news for Sage. "Sage, remember what you said earlier about ruling ebay? Do you really think we could rule ebay?" She stopped to think. "Is it even possible to sell an idea over ebay?"

**"No, but your soul, yeah..."She shrugged, sighing. "Too bad, some cash would be nice. I can only rent my soul. However.... what does it say there about Stay-Puf't marshmallows?"**

Ana typed it in, hoping to find a news report about a giant marshmallow man attacking a city, but no such luck. "Yep, they have Stay-Puf't marshmallows here, and sadly none of them ever attacked the city."

**"How very sad." A thought occurred to her, and Sage almost collapsed in a small, laughing heap. "Oh, man! How bout this, search for a restaurant; The Raunchy Taheen!...if no dice there, how about Silence of the Lambs?"**

Ana laughed, readjusted her position in the arm chair, and typed in 'The Raunchy Taheen.'

Mac was lounging on the couch next to Sage tossing M&Ms in the air and catching them in his mouth. "Yah wanna go out an' do somethin?"

**"Sure. As soon as the Ultimate Evil--I've had a few bad experiences with Google–is done this, which could just be a bit." She smiled, and held out the tattooed hand. "Two questions, though; can I have an m&m, and what do you have in mind?"**

Mac passed her the bag of M&Ms. "D'know... yah like video games?"

**"Subscriptions to Nintendo Power and Ultimate Gamer." Sage was grinning now, taking a handful of the candies before passing the bag back. "Anything from Pokemon to Harvest Moon"**

A rather mischievous expression crept across Mac's face. "Alright. We're hittin Game Stop."

Ana raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Sage? I'm not getting anything except porn sites here..."

**"The hell!" The fantasist turned, blinking and indignant. "The Raunchy Taheen is supposed to be a fictional restaurant! Some people are sick... I won't ask." Now, Mac was blinked at, although in an cheerful manner. "Did I happen to mishear you? Hitting a place?"**

Ana looked up, intrigued as well. "You have a Game Stop here?" Her eyes brightened. "And we're going to rob it?"

Mac's grinned widened at the apparent success of this idea. "Tha's what I said."

**"Marvelous!" The Wee One stood, laughing, and applauded. "As I have yet to be to a Game Stop, I am only assuming, but I think I can safely say they're probably all pissy with warranties and have murderous late fees. It's justifiable."**

Ana was giggling and clapping uncontrollably as well. "This is awesome!" Her lap top started to fall. She grabbed it, closed it, and looked a bit sheepish.

Mac had switched into thoughtful mode now. "'Kay, le'see... I's not tha' far, an' we got three people, so roof travel is out. Guess we gotta go in on foot. Hold on a sec while I get my coat."

**"Alright." Excited, and, with the amount of sleep that had been about lately, 'cheerfully manic', Sage was not clapping. But almost. "Isn't it, though? And people've said I'd never see squat."**

"And just think, our parents will never ever know," Ana beamed.

Mac returned from his room wearing a long trench coat and a fedora. "Yah girls got anythin with a hood on it, or somethin?"

Ana dug through her trusty book bag and pulled out her blue hooded sweatshirt. It was her favorite one. She had found it in the boys department at JCPenny, and the kicker about that was the little glittery white skull on the chest.

**"For an odd moment, I almost wish my cloak was here. But this should do." A black, knitted hoodie was pulled free of Sage's bag, a faint white-and-grey pattern around the front and sides. "Too bad it's getting beat to crap..." Regardless, she pulled it on, zipping it up and tucking her necklaces away as she pulled her braid free. "But, meh."**

"Awesome. Le's go." Mac led the way out of the warehouse and back to the street.

**Soon enough, the Game Stop was in sight. "Okay....so, just how is it proposed we do this? Sorry, but lacking the means, I've never done this before. Forgive a noob."**

Something occurred to Mac that he hadn't thought of before. "If Spider-Man shows up, both'a yah'll need a quick way tah escape."

Ana grinned and laughed. "Take us hostage, Otto did. It was kind of fun."

"Tha's actually a good idea, but I can't hold both'a yah in m' tail at once."

**"I'm smaller, would probably be easier to move with." The Wee One shrugged. "And let's just say that there was this one time, on a fair ride...well, if not such circumstances, I've gotten pretty used to awkward forms of movement." She grinned herself, chuckling. "Thus, I volunteer." **

Mac stifled a laugh. A voluntary hostage, he never dreamed he would see the day. "Here's how i's goin down. Sage'll go in first, act like she's jus' lookin 'round or whatever. After a minute or two, I'll come in," here he turned to Sage. "But try not tah look at me until I start grabbin stuff. People ignore each other in New York, an' anythin else'd be suspicious." He turned to Ana. "Yah watch for the web head. If yah see 'im, signal Sage and Sage'll signal me."

**"Okay. I'll just wander around and check out the different gameboy games." After keeping a straight face, for a few moments, she burst out laughing again. "Oh, man, this is warped. As for the signal, I have the weirdest urge to quote South Park; 'I'll make a sound like a dying giraffe!'"**

Ana laughed too. "'Dude, what's a dying giraffe sound like?'"

"**Hey, I've woken my neighbors up on New Years with this; 'Euuwaugh. Euuwaugh!'"**

Ana giggled, giddily. "I'll be pointing and gasping like most of the other people, but I'll try to be the first one pointing and gasping."

**"Alrighty, then. Man, it's going to be interesting trying to keep a straight face...I'll manage though, by grace of being a good liar." Sage grinned, shrugged, and turned to saunter in. "Now, to check out that Legend of Zelda; Oracle of Ages. Ah, bad memories..." The door swung closed, and, inside, the fantasist could be seen examining the back of the box with a vaguely disgruntled expression.**

Ana moved away from Mac and began studying something in a shop window. Mac waited a bit, glanced both ways, and strolled casually into the store. He walked right into the middle of the placed, threw off his hat, flung open his coat, and raised his tail. "No body move!"

**"...oh, holy crap." There had been a number of times when the Wee One, in a desperate attempt to pull her ass from the fire, had lied convincingly under close watch. Tone wasn't exaggerated, nor was posture; practice did make perfect, or so it would seem.**

The guy behind the counter began reaching for something out of view. Mac whipped around and fired acid at the counter top, just barely missing the man. It was a warning shot. "Hands up! Get 'round front where I can see yah." Mac was having the time of his life. As the man complied, Mac whacked him across the room with his tail. He hit a shelf beside Sage and crumpled to the ground. Mac couldn't tell if he was alive or dead, and frankly, he didn't care. He surveyed the room with narrowed eyes. "Anyone else wanna be a hero? No?" He turned to another hapless employee. She shook her head and shrank away. "Yah damn straight," he cackled like only a super villain can.

Outside, Ana watched with mild interest, though there was no sight of the web head yet.

"Ge' me a bag, bitch." She seemed too frightened to move. "NOW! Before I get real angry." She just about literally leaped over the counter and came back with a plastic bag. Mac began wandering the store, stuffing things in the bag. He spied a little boy clinging to his mommy and whimpering. He leaned down close. "Boo!" The boy squealed and started crying. Mac continued grabbing things.

Outside, Ana heard a faint sound in the distance. A sort of thwip thwip sound. In the distance she spotted a dot flying through the air. "Look!" She pointed the speck out to the gathering crowd. "It's Spider-Man!"

**The motion, by grace of excessive outdoor lighting, was clearly visible; cursing under her breath, Sage took a small step back, allowing the loose knit of her sleeve to catch on a corner of a box--Oracle of Seasons, actually--and tip it to the ground with a light clatter. It wasn't a bad choice; trying to find the best sword had been a pain and a half. **

Mac heard the thump and grinned, preparing himself for what would come next. He turned to Sage and stalked closer, growling. "I said don' move..." He raised his tail just as the web head swung through the door. He jerked around, pretending to be surprised, the pissed off look on his face coming more naturally.

Peter had let one villain get away today, and he wasn't about to let it happen again. He had no idea what had happened to those two girls. Why hadn't they run, or put up more of a fight, or something? Then again, he had thought he had heard one of them call Ock... but he couldn't think about that now. "I thought you retired, Gargan."

Mac smirked insidiously. "Eat acid, bug brain." His tail let loose a stream of the corrosive green liquid. The spider back flipped out of the way, the acid instead causing a several hundred dollars worth of property damage instead.

I have to get him outside, Peter thought, barely dodging another stream of acid.

**Those were... those were... Sega games. Oh, relief. 'Get N, or get out,' was still fondly remembered, and after progress through the Super Nes, Gameboy Colour, and all to follow, it had apparently held true. For lack of anything better to do, the Wee One observed the fight, considering palming a game or two up her loose sleeves, but thinking better of it.**

"I'd say you are as ugly as a baboon's behind, but I wouldn't want to insult an innocent baboon," Peter taunted, knowing the extent to which Mac despised insults.

Mac clenched his teeth and his hands balled into fists. "Shut up!" He swatted at the wall crawler with his tail but only succeeded in taking a chunk out of the ceiling as the vermin slipped away. Seizing upon the previously thought up plan, Mac snatched Sage up with his tail so that the acid shooter was aimed for her head. He hoped the bug wouldn't recognize her from earlier, but he doubted it.

**Again: Damn, this was awkward, and as that line had already been used--although while still short of breath from geese-chasing--there was only two other phrases which could sum the situation up. "Oh, dear god...opoponax!" **

Peter froze in a crouched position and rose slowly to his feet, hands up in a peaceful gesture. "Aw man... aw man... Okay, Scorpy, let's just put her down and talk about this, arachnid to arachnid. Okay?"

Mac tightened his tail impulsively. "Outta my way, bug brain, or the girl gets an acid facial."

**Well, if no longer as comfortable, it still wasn't too bad...Although, this did remind one a fair deal of some Far Side cartoon. Or two, or three. "... harsh.... no further comment!" And thus, one was given more than sufficient time to reflect upon how 'May you live in interesting times,' was a curse.**

Peter began to back away slowly. "Just don't do anything rash." He stepped aside, hands still up. When Mac was outside, with his back turned, he could cover the end of his tail in webs, thus disabling the shooter. On the other hand, Mac's acid had been known to eat through his webbing from time to time. Plan B would work all right, though. He gently tossed a spider-tracer that adhered itself to the hem of Mac's coat.

Ana looked around as Mac ascended the building then she quickly slipped off into the shadows.

**Elsewhere...**

**"Sir, I cannot help you here! This is the C desk, go to the B desk, and they will send you where you need to go..." Ulimahn.**

**Meanwhile, the Guatemalan flight was just arriving, its decidedly travel-weary flock of passengers bubbling out, shuffling, clutching their bags, and rubbing at their eyes. Among them was young Robert Dean, scratching at the shoulder of his polyester shirt, the likes of which had been specially tailor to hide unsightly bulges under one's armpits. He wandered aimlessly through the crowd, albeit in a twitchy manner, glancing over the faces of people waiting for the supposed contact; no luck, thus far.**

**Meanwhile, the gentleman from across the aisle, earlier, was approaching C desk, only to receive the standard response. "Sir, I cannot help you here! This is C des--"**

**"I know it's C desk, I was sent here by B desk. I require only one of the timetable char--"**

**"My shift is almost up. I cannot help you here."**

Otto, even with the dark glasses on, could have spied the garish shirt ten miles away. Slipping his glasses slightly down his nose with one hand in order to study the youth with greater clarity, the scientist confirmed his target. He strolled up to the young man, hands in his pockets, careful not to let anyone bump into his back--lest his children be disturbed. "Robert Dean, I presume."

**"Yeah, man, you the check I was told about?" Almost in a skeptic manner, the day's mule raised an eyebrow, the motion causing his thin outbreak of acne to ripple, almost. "Hard to see how you couldn't be, I mean."**

**At C desk, the argument was over; discourtesy was unspeakably ugly, and the older individual did not wish to be exposed to any more, for the time being.**

A thin smile slid across Otto's face. "Let us relocate to a more secluded area." As he turned and began walking, he brushed past an older individual--well educated by the looks of him--but paid him very little mind.

**"Yeah, sure." Shrugging, Bob followed him. "Any place you got in mind?"**

**The doctor turned, raising an eyebrow and shaking his head to himself--he was tired, almost letting his imagination and the trip get the better of his composure--and, with a faint reluctance to return to the mobbing crowd (it stank) he sauntered back, intending to collect his luggage, a certain small, velvet bag in one of the black cases, in specific**

Not a long while later, the two figures were making their way across an abandoned section of the parking garage. It had been closed off for construction purposes, and was currently completely empty. Otto had one of his children peeking out from under the hem of his coat, scanning for security cameras. As they located them, they disabled them with an infrared signal.

**"Anyways, dude, I gotta get going..." With some effort and the muffled protest of the tape used to secure the bags in place, both were freed and held out. "Here. Cause, now, there's a half-dozen raspberry doughnuts calling to me." He was still twitchy.**

The scientist freed his tentacles and accepted the bags with the top two. "You wouldn't be attempting to 'pull the wool over my eyes,' as it were?"

**"Course not!" Robert tried to look indignant, and failed miserably; he'd long since lost any shred of dignity, or decency, he may've had. The most he could manage was an expression of sulky pride, which had all the elaborate, gaudy trimmings of a bad liar.**

Otto smirked. "Then you won't be adverse to sticking around for a few more moments." The bottom two tentacles rose, pincers blossoming to full size to bath the young man in red light.

**Heidi Dean's eldest son's thoughts at the moment were best summed up in a simple syllable, a four letter word of, or so it's supposed, Anglo-Saxon heritage; '...Fuck.' This was, however, not what was said. He may've been a stupid man, was a stupid man, but had always held out some faint hope he could pull his ass from the fire. "Nah,"**

"Excellent." The two tentacles that had been trained on the boy turned to the bags. Otto let the silence stretch on, never taking his eyes off the boy. He could almost smell his fear. The two tentacles finally relaxed and Three moved up to the scientist's ear, seeming to whisper. Otto's eyes flicked sideways towards the tentacle, then back to Robert. There was an insidious glint in them now. He dropped the bags and all four tentacles moved into strike position.

**Oh, mother---' "Hey, hey! What's this about? I swear to god those are the bags I picked up in Guatemala, the same! I had help taping on the bags, and where did you think I got the shirt, Sears? I got them from the first contact, dude, what the hell?"**

"We know baking soda when we see it, you delinquent snake." Otto hesitated a bit longer, hoping he would try to run.

**This was the result, sorta; mixed with an extremely half-hearted bluff. "Look, okay, settle down, just settle down, mellow out. We'll go in, call Guatemala--after all those vending machines I have enough change, and see just what the deal's supposed to be," still going on in this vein, Robert made to return to the main area, at something which was almost a brisk jog.**

The human octopus launched one of his tentacles into Robert's back. Once he was down, the scientist clamped another pincer around his ankles and dragged him back. Otto dangled the youth upside down at eye level and slid off his glasses to send an unshielded death glare right into Robert's eyes. "I was presented with specific instructions to follow. I am no more fooled by your evasion tactic than I was by your charade."

**"I don't care, those are the bags!" Besides, if he owned up, he was only more screwed...**

Otto chuckled malevolently. "You refuse to confess, we draw out your death." One of the stronger bottom pincers latched over Robert's chest and began to squeeze, tightening a fraction more every time he let out a breath.

**"But it wasn't ME! I don't know who it was, but it wasn't me, the guy who helped taping or who brought the shirt or--hell, the guy who brought the tape, anythinganyoneatall–" It appeared he'd go on this way for a fair while, panic running rampant and break dancing on any semblance of rational thought.**

"You ought to conserve what little breath remains to you." The tentacle's grip tightened, bones cracked, and the boy's chest collapsed like a shoe box under a semi. "Now, to take out the trash..."


	4. Wars, Mags, and Danishes

FATR: Which one of us is typing which part is purposely not indicated. See if you can figure out who's saying what and who's controlling which character. I don't own Donnie Darko, or anything related to it. I don't own Spider-man, or anything related to it. I don't own any except Ana. So there. Let the chip chip commence.

"That bitchy little monkey!" Cursing the ape, Sage set her controller down to flip off the computer players. "Cheap... so very cheap... but the whole mess is amusing, regardless." Finished with the sort of laughing half-anger only the sugar high or sleep deprived show on any consistant basis, she shrugged, reaching for her can of soda, and one of the snack bowls. "Warped and twisted, yeah, but, amusing regardless." The bowlcrispy m&ms, this time, was offered first to Ana, then Mac. "And you know, it's really weird getting carried like that, especially twice in a day."

Ana held up an M&M and grinned. "You think I can throw this in your mouth from here, Sage?"

"Try, but I'll beat you with a cushion if it goes up my nose."

Ana aimed carefully and fired. It bounced off the tip of Sage's nose and disappeared into the couch. Instantly, Ana burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"Remind me to not let you do that again; now I have to go save the thing!" Mock-scowling, she turned, digging under the couch until the small, blue speck was found. "Of course, rescue is short-lived."

"Lemme try?" Mac reached into the bowl and pulled out a green one.

"Fine, fine. If i can keep a straight face. But if you miss, I get to take a shot at both of you." Shaking her head, the Wee One sat back, waiting.

Mac grinned mischieviously and tossed. It went down the front of Sage's shirt. Mac threw his hands in the air and cheered, "Goal!"

Ana laughed so hard she fell off the chair, dragging her half empty two liter of cherry pepsi along for the ride. Fortunately, it was capped.

"... oh... c'mon... real mature..." After the last pause, she began to snicker herself, shaking her head. "I should've known better, I spend all my waking hours surrounded by pervs and yet, there goes my judgement..." For a moment, Sage laughed too hard, flicking a candy at both of her companions, making only a small clicking noise for a moment or three. "Oh well, I once read that those who can laugh at themselves will never cease to be amused."

Ana snatched the bowl off the table, loudly proclaiming, "M&M wars!" She dove behind the chair, popped up behind it, and began launching one brightly pigmented projectile after another at her two new friends.

Mac deflected a few with his tail as he dove for cover behind another piece of furniture.

"Oh, no fair, I have noammo!" Seizing a few packages, sage pulled up two couch cushions, crouching betwen them, and tearing at the plastic, tossing a handful in either direction. "Fear me and my skittles, sugar-hardened loogie drops of DOOM!"

A skittle bounced off Ana's forehead. "AH! I'm hit!" She dropped behind the chair. "First aid!" Doing the army crawl, Ana dragged herself into the line of fireMac had started hurling jujubeesand returned to her fort with her pepsi. She glugged about a fourth of it then popped back up."Heeerrrres Johnny!"

Nearly choking on one of the captured chocolates at that, the fantasist glanced at her watch. "Four past midnight; UNMASK!"

Try as they might, neither of the girls were fast enough to hit Mac, and both suffered a jujubee down the shirt or two. Ana's aim wasn't much helped by the fact that she was laughing so hard she could barely breath. "Pillow warfare! How about us girls form an alliance against Mac?"

"Despite the fact we'll probably get the crap kicked out of us, or, rather, b'whapped out of us via overuse of plush stuff?" Laughing, Sage barely stood. "Sure. But, I have one thing to say first..." She turned to Mac, making a small opoponax gesture. "Just this: It's really odd/opoponax to be carried around like that, you know? Considering the whole thing with getting here in the first place, I'm sure Ana agrees with me."

Ana giggled. "A fangirl on a sugar high rant his not a pretty thing. Tempt me not."

"In other words; yeah."

Mac smiled. "Glad I could amuse yah. Don' think it'll make me go easy on yah." With only this small warning, he threw a pillow at Sage.

"In other words, yeah." Sage finished off the lime skittles, managing to speak clearly through a full mouth via lots of practice. "Although, while dangerous-looking fair rides are as close as I can come for a comparison, it was fun." Considering the only thing previously done which wasn't quite legal had been cutting a fence open to go swimming, but, ah, that had been a great while. "However, I still ow you for that m&m..." With this, a handful of skittles were flung, and a pillow swung, although aim was less than accurate; the self-proclaimed Centurion was laughing too hard.

Ana leaped into action as well, selecting one of the larger couch cushions.

Mac shielded himself from the barrage of attacks with one arm. "Hey, tha' ain't fair!"

"You're a super villain and you can't handle two girls with pillows?" Ana teased.

"Despite a team effort, we have the disadvantage; besides, the m&m was a cheap shot!" Sage cheered. "Consider this karma, or something to that effect."

"Karma this," Mac chuckled and, moving with the speed of his namesake, ducked two swings and swung one girl over each shoulder.

"Meow!" Ana squawked.

"Whoacan't say we didn't try!" Chuckling over Ana's exclamation and their sad little effort, Sage blew a raspberry. "So, there."

"Where are you taking us?" Ana demanded as Mac headed towards the back of the warehouse.

"Wouldn'cha like tah know," Mac responded cryptically.

"Yeah, yeah..." Sage, having no hope of escapebesides, it was enough of a drop to the ground from heremused aloud. "Hmn. We're being carried around by a supervillian, in a base, to an unknow destination, when only another supervillian knows where we are. We're remarkably calm about this..."

"An essentially omnipotent crime lord knows we're here," Ana pointed out.

Mac used his tail to open a door and walked into the bathroom.

"Er... why are we...?" Ana trailed off as Mac laughed malevolently.

"True. But, as I was about to sayThis can't bode well!"

Mac used his tail to turn the cold water in the shower on full blast and plugged the drain.

"Hey, now, what is this!" Ana struggled.

"Evil! Pure evil!" Despite the situation, the shorter ka-mai began an attempt to free herself, as well. "Oh, man, you gotta be kidding!"

Mac continued to cackle insanely as he flipped them both into the icy water.

"Oplobsterpenguinshit!" Ana squealed as the water seeped into clothes.

"Mac? You're evil." Sage stumbled a bit, straighted, and sighed, as she was still wearing her thick, knit sweater over the t-shirt and slacks; the thing took days to dry. "And I really wish i had a water balloon or something to the effect to whip at you right now. True, the chances of a real hit are almost zilch, but the thought is what counts. At least I can kick your ass at Smash Brothers!"

"Didn' get like this by bein nice," Mac was laughing almost too hard to speak. "An' as for Smash Brothers, le's jus' see 'bout tha'..."

Completely sopping now, Sage flipping her sodden braid back nearly whapping Ana with it in the process crossed her arms, and looked up at the Scorpion, defiant, grinning, and bedraggled. "You're on. Dibs on Kirby; I shall beat you with a little, pink, puffball!"

Otto returned to find Mac playing video games with two sopping wet girls in the shambles of the living room. Candy littered the floor, couch cushions were flung about, and two or three empty two liters sat on the table in a helter-skelter fashion. He cleared his throat. "Mac? Is this what you call keeping an eye on our guests?"

"...If I may interrupt," the game was paused, "It's not like we were left alone, or anything to that nature..."

"Yeah, doc, take a pill, would yah?" Mac put down the controller, stood up, and stretched.

There was pause, as Octavius hung his head for a brief moment, touching a human hand to his temple in a quick why-must-I-be-surrounded-by-children gesture. "If you would kindly explain the orgin of the games, why the area is in the state of utter ruin that it is, and the spreading water-marks...?"

"Well..." Ana looked at Mac. "Mac suggested we go rob Game Stop, and shortly after we returned, a candy fight ensued..."

"They ganged up on me an' started hittin' me with pillows so I took 'em in the bathroom an' threw 'em in cold water."

"And that, as it is said, is the rest of the story," This last bit Sage tacked on to the explanation, shrugging.

"...dare I ask the manner in which the theft occurred?" The scientist blinked, raising an eyebrow. Again, old expressions died hard; there were only so many which were even recognized on a conscious level.

"Ana kept watch an' Sage played hostage. It wen' over real well, actually."

"You left an individual who, not only knows the location of our current covert, but one who was originally taken as a hostage to use in barter, for a way free of the webslinger with relative ease, standing outside of a store, one which has a pay phone resting at its corner, while yourself and another such individual were cooperating for the sake of thievery and wanton destructionI know youfor the length of time during which your attention was little more than tunnel vision?" He sighed. "Gargan? You astound and frustrate me."

Ana's first thought was: I would never betray my eight-limbed sex god, but she kept it to herself. Her next thought was: Well, when you put it THAT way...

Mac stared for a few moments, sifting through the words that had come out of Otto's mouth. Finally he said, "I astound an' frustrate'cha. Got it." He sat back down on the couch. "Yah done, doc?"

"...Yes. For now, yes."

It took all of the Wee One's effort to keep a straight face at the situation; how truly bizarre... But, was the bizarre not also the endlessly amusing?

Mac picked up the control and the game was un-paused. However, Sage promptly knocked his character off the stage. "Fuck!"

Ana felt bad for Otto. If she hadn't been so shy she would have snapped at Mac not to talk to Otto baby like that. "I'm guessing I can predict your answer, but would you be interested in joining us, doctor?" Ana asked.

"Ha! I told you; I'm kicking your sorry ass with a little, fluffy, pink puffball..." Beaming, Sage ignored the fact that she'd also blown Kirby up in her attack; there was still a two-life lead in her favour.

"...No, thank you. I have work which must be attended to." Shrugging, he strode towards his lab, tossing back a comment which meant they were not without hope, after all; "Perhaps some other time..."

"Hey, you know what occurs to me?" Ana piped up after sitting in a disappointed silence for a moment or two.

"...What?" Sage paused the fight without thinking about it, blinking. "Do tell."

"We are soaking wet, no change of clothes, and where are we going to sleep?"

"Hey, now..." Grinning, she gestured in the direction of her duffel bag. "I didn't cling to that thing all the way here for no reason; most of my shirts are like, XXL because I like baggy stuff, you can borrow some, if you like... and, I dunno, good question..."

"One a' yah can sleep on the couch. Doc gets up kinda early, though." Mac unpaused the game and blasted Kirby.

"Hmn... I propose we flip for it?Hey! You cheap bastard!" Turning back to the screen, it was seen to that some form of revenge was takena bomb dropped on Mac's character.

Mac was laughing so hard he could hardly breath despite the revenge which was taken. "Can't put too much trust in a super villain."

Ana shrugged. "You know, I would rather like to sleep in the recliner. If that's okay with any and all individuals involved..."

"Yeah, yeah, you hobo!" She blew a raspberry at him, tapping buttons frantically, sitting back to cheer. "Ha! Victory is mine, despite your antics, amusing as they may be. And what? Sure, kay, fine with me."

Mac stood and yawned. "Good game. 'M gonna go hit the sack."

"Alright. G'night!" Still cheerful, Sage turned to Ana. "You want a quick match or two?"

Ana looked around. "I think we should straighten up the living room a bit."

"...that's probably true. But, on behalf of all procrastinators, one match first?" Hopeful, she held out a controller.

"Yeah, but..." Ana looked at the ground. "I'd hate to be a goody two shoes fangirl, but Otto seemed kind of upset. You know? He didn't have to let us stay here, and it would be the least we could do. Besides, I started the M&M fight."

"I didn't say I didn't think we should, but nevermind..." Sighing, the Wee One flicked the game's power off. "That's true, which is why I'm saying nothing against it."

Ana began picking candy out of the furniture and putting the pillows back in place. "Did you have as much fun as I did tonight?"

Laughing, Sage nodded. "Oh, yeah, I think so." She sat where she was, but was sweeping skittles and the other edibles tossed about into a small pile, before moving over to the next patch of carpet and gathering them up there. "It's been something, hasn't it?"

"What do you suppose will happen tomorrow? Though with things going as they are, it should be unpredictable on so many levels."

"I wouldn't be surprised to a Darko lookalike followed by none other than the demonic bunny of doom, to be frank." One of the fallen m&ms was picked up, brushed off, and eaten. "Pardon the pun."

Ana laughed. "I was almost Frank for Halloween last year, but I ultimately ended up being Shathra. I made my own wings and everything." She poured the treasure she had dug up into the empty skittles bowl and joined Sage in rounding up M&Ms.

"Cool. What did you use? I've been trying to learn to work in every medium, but so far need to learn metal and glass."

"I used wire and shear fabric, not much different from comercially sold wings." Ana reached under the couch to fish out some particularly evasive skittles.

"I see." A gummy candy was pulled from under some of the game boxes. "I think that's all the sugary junk?"

Her hand brushed the edge of a rectangular, paper thing. Furrowing her brow in an expression of curiosity, she pulled it into the light, and immediately colapsed into hysterical laugher.

"What? What did you find?"

Ana couldn't stop laughing long enough to speak, so she held up the dirty magazine by way of an answer.

"Oh, the hell." The fantasist snorted, snerked, and snickered a bit, as well. "Sad."

"So, who's do you think it is?" Ana snickered.

"No comment, no comment at all. Perfect eloquence is nearly always mute."

Ana grinned mischievously. "I'm so tempted to just leave it in the middle of the table..."

"'We can resist everything except temptation', to quote, although whom, I don't know. Don't remember. Will you?"

Ana looked at Sage, eyes aglow. "Should I?"

"Hmn..." She considered, then turned to her bag, rummaging through a side pocket until she sat back, holding a round orange stone. One side had the black shape of a bird in flight marked into it; it was a favoured charm. "I'll flip. Blank, no, bird, yes." The sparrow-stone, as the thing had been affectionately nicknamed, was tossed; it was not the flat, plain orange face of the thing which greeted them. "And the rock says go for it."

Ana, snickering giddily, carefully cleared a bare spot on the table in which the adult item could rest. "We must obey the sparrow, we have no choice." She glanced around the living room. "Shall we change out of the wet clothes and hit the sack?"

"I suppose it would be reasonable." The sparrow stone replaced, Sage now dug a pair of pajamasunlike her black day clothes, these slacks and a long-sleeved shirt were a bright mulberry. "Today's been bizarre, nyeh?"

"Oh, most certainly. Do you have a t-shirt I can borrow?" Ana asked as she fished her large square of green velvet out of her back pack.

"Yeah, sure." Clothes, books, and similar items were moved around, and a plain black t-shirtXL like most of the shirts Sage had; she liked loose clothingwas tossed over. "How's that?"

"This will do fine." Ana stripped to her bra and underwear and put on the shirt, coccooning herself in the velvet and curling up in the chair. "I wonder if I can convince one of them to steal clothes for me. I guess Mac wouldn't be hard to convince."

"True, very true." The pajamas were glanced at, contemplated, and packed away again in favour of another large t-shirt; this was pulled on over the wet one, the latter simply taken off under it and tossed over the back of the couch to dry. The shorts were of a fabric not too unlike tarp; for the most part, they were dry already. "But it could be fun to get hold of some cash, just check out a bunch of stores." The Wee One's hand went to her neck, jingling the thick mass of cords and metal around it. "I could fit a few more necklaces, probably."

"I wonder if this reality has a Hot Topic," Ana mused then shrugged. "Well, good night, Sage."

She dropped onto the cough. "G'night."

Ana was roused from a barrage of strange dreams to find a dark silhouette looming over the table. Ana knew what Otto was pondering but retained her innocent look and voice.

Sage, meanwhile, was dead to the world, sprawled on the couch, on her stomach, undreaming. Now, what was that quote? 'The dream is my reality.'

"What's up?" Ana asked.

Otto raised his eyes to meet hers and pointed at the table. "Where did you find this?"

"Under the couch, when we were cleaning up the living room. Why?" Ana asked innocently.

Otto stared at her a moment longer then yelled. "GARGAN!"

"Nnrrn..." This incoherent protest at the noise was from the partially awakened Sage, who was sitting up and groping for her glasses. After a moment she found them and opened her eyes, the world more or less in focus, now. So, she checked her watch. "...It's too early."

There was a thud in Mac's room and a barely intelligible string of curses. His door crashed open. "Wha' the fuck? Do yah know wha' time it is?"

"How many times must I tell you to stop leaving this offensive smutt laying around out here?"

Mac looked puzzled and came over to investigate. "Nope, ain't mine."

"It's not mine."

"'M tellin you, it ain't mine. I wen' tah bed b'fore 'em, an' I didn' leave it there." He gestured to Sage and Ana.

"True, true... She found it under the couch while we were cleaning up, though." The Wee One gestured at Ana, yawning; the hour was far too early. "And it doesn't belong to us, so it's one of yours."

"You cannot possibly expect a single soul present to believe that it does not belong to you, Gargan."

"Tha's what'cha were thinkin when yah put it there, huh, doc?" Mac scowled.

"I would never poison my mind with this atrocious garbage."

"Don' give me tha' holier than thou bullshit! Use as many big words as yah wan' but tha' ain't mine."

"I refuse to lay claim to this for you."

"...I can see the two of you splitting the subscription costs." Barely keeping a straight face, the self-proclaimed Agent of the Random turned to nudge Ana, the grin confined to her eyes for the moment. "Is it, as a mental image, not disturbingly clear?"

Ana had to laugh. Not an all out, insane cackle, but a greater degree than a giggle. "Oh, yes, indeed."

"Yah know, for all I know, i' b'longs tah one a' yah girls. Yah forgot tah put i' away an' yah tryin tah blame me."

"Hey, I will admit that I have looked at porn before, but that is not mine and Sage can back me up on it!"

"And Ana is a witness for my decent, clean mind! I'm a token nonperv." Sage held up her hands, grinning, now. "While there are a few smutty scenes in any given King novel, you can take a look through all the books I brought; the movies for most of them suck, but are rated mostly for language and violence."

Otto shrugged. "Well, if no one is prepared to claim this, I will dispose of it."

"Wha'ever, as long as i's clear tha' I' ain't mine."

Otto glowered at Mac as he picked it up with one tentacle. "Fair enough." One and Two tore the magazine in half, put the halves together, and tore it in half again. "That concludes that."

"Well..." Still amused, Sage yawned again, stretching. "Now that the morning's entertainment is over, for the moment, what is there to be done today?"

"Eat," Mac answered automatically. "What'cha in the mood for, doc?"

"Although it's fair to say that the 'morning's entertainment,' as it was phrased, may've surpressed by appetite somewhat, I'd suggested pastries, if there wasn't an argument."

"Junk food? Excellent by me." Ah, cream danishes, dumplings, and, of course, honeybuns...

"No arguement here," Ana grinned. Then her expression fell a bit. "You aren't suggesting we go out, are you?"

"It isn't as though we have themor the makingshere, as you can observe." Octavius shrugged, sighing. "We'll have to, at some point today, at least, and likely the earlier, the better. Less people about, or, certainly, as close as you can get to 'less', here."

"Well, it's just..." Ana fidgeted with the corner of the blanket she was still wrapped in. "Thanks to a certain mischievous bully," said with friendly affection, "my clothes are still wet, and even though Sage's t-shirts fit me, I doubt anything else of hers will..."

"Hey, some of my shorts might." The Wee One shrugged. "I like baggy clothes; I doubt much beyond my sandals is the size it should be. Feel free to try them all; I also might have a wrap in there, somewhere." She laughed. "You could always safety-pin your blanket to a modest level."

Otto raised an eyebrow, shaking his head. Again, why must the average maturity level of this room be so low?

Ana contemplated the large piece of green velvet. "That actually gives me an idea, if the males present wouldn't mind looking the other way for a bit."

Mac shrugged. "Hey, I gotta go get ready tah go, anyways." He went back to his room.

"Oh?"

The maturity was low enough; he would not bring it lower. "As do I, actually." The scientist returned to his own. Truth be told, he was almost ready to go, as it was, but aside from the almost, a hole had been noticed starting in his right sock, and, for some reason, it was just aggravating.

Once the room was clear of all opposite gender observers, Ana took off the t-shirt and retied the green velvet as a sort of make-shift sarong. "You wouldn't have something I could use a belt, would you, Sage?"

"I'll check my Almighty Bag of Junk." She bent over it and began digging, laughing at the possibilities. "I have everything from house paint to extension cords on the bottom of my wardrobe, so some may've gotten in here... but nup. Got the sash from a knitted houserobe/sweater dealie, though; it sees fair use as a hair tie. That work?"

"That would be just peachy keen." Ana wasn't sure why she felt so giddy all of a sudden. She decided to go barefoot. True, the streets of the Big Apple were probably littered with things like broken glassesamong other nasty thingsand would eventually be baked to oven temperature by the sun, but if she could walk barefoot across a scalding sandy beach or through a thorny, overgrown lot, she could handle some spit and trash.

"Alrighty, then!" The long, narrow strip of knitted fabric was balled up and tossed over. "I cry your pardon for any hairs on there; I'm told I shed. Badly."

Mac came out of his room, performing some last minute adjustments on his mask. "Everyone decent? Good. Where's doc?"

"Right here." He refrained from scratching at his ankle; almost all of the few, remaining clean pairs of socks he had were woolen, and it would take a short while to adjust. "Shall we get going?"

"Yep. Rooftop or ground?" Mac asked.

Oh, rooftops, please rooftops... Ana pleaded silently.

This was considered, and a choice, although logical, was made. "Well, I'm assuming it would be best to get there quickly, preferably before the city reaches one of its busiest times. Rooftop would likely be best, in that case."

The Wee One sighed, though she was laughing. "This, again?"

"Yay!" Ana squeeled and hopped once, punching the air with her fist in a joyful gesture. Then she cleared her throat, forcing herself to calm down. "I mean, that sounds like a good idea to me." She looked at Sage and cocked her head. "I see you do not quite share my full enthusiasm."

Laughing harder, the fantasist shrugged. "It would be hard to. Besides, I had no other comment at my disposal, save 'so.' And I've been threatened with excessive bodily harm for saying it, in the past."

"Regardless, ladies, if we'd be going at all...?"

"I'll carry yah," Mac grinned at Sage. "Don' worry, nothin bad'll happen. I swear." He scooped her up in his tail, though this time keeping the acid shooter pointed carefully away.

"Alright, then." The grin was returned. "I'm sure it's a lot safer than some of the fair rides I've been on, too. I just continue to say; you know how weird it is?"

Meanwhile, Otto had turned to Ana, One and Two moving slightly at the mentions of their sides. "Right or left?"

"Left," Ana answered, suppressing a fangirl giggle.

"Alright." Obediantly, Two curled about and lifted her, carefully.

"And once again, we're off in an incredibly odd situation, awkwardbut interestingway of travel..."

Mac crouched and sprang onto the wall, crawling out one of the larger windows. He turned and watched to make sure he guided Sage through without any bodily harm, then continued to the roof, straightening up and waiting for the octopus. "Le's see, which one should we hit t'day?"

This, while still considered, was only considered very briefly; Otto hadn't been long in joining his 'coworker', for lack of a better phrase, albeit more noisily, the metallic clanks echoing to the day. "Perhaps the bakery across fromwhat is that music shopah, Tower Records." The tentacles really were useful, endlessly so, memory included.

"Got'cha." Mac ran and took a flying leap off the edge of the building, landing on the nearest building. The old roof creaked dangerously and he bounded away shortly before the part he had occupied collapsed.

"Oh, man, holy crap." This was the comment at the metal giving way, and a fitting one at that. Despite a bit of the dear-god tone coming through her laughter, though the King fanatic was having a fair time; it beat being stuck upside down as a guy with a toolkit scaled the side of the four-ticket ride you were hanging from, after all.

Otto, on the other hand, carried on moving at a steady pace, three free mechanical arms clumping down indifferent of what they were traveling over.

Once they hit the sturdier, closer together buildings, and Mac had developed a better rythm, the journey smoothed out a lot. In no time at all, the place was visible, and an even shorter time later than that, they were stopped on the roof of Tower Records.

The bakery across the street, small and unnamed, looked plain enough; it was the stuff on display which caught the eye.

"...they've got everything." Another observation from the short side. "To quote, "And a prune danish, big boy."" Hey, Blondie was cool...

"I say we go in, crush some stuff, an' use the girls as hostages if the webhead shows up," Mac suggested.

"I'd hate to put a damper on your fun-o-meter, but if you keep using us as hostages, the webhead is bound to recognize us one of these times," Ana pointed out.

"And that is a lasting point, Gargan. Perhaps it would be best if such things were restricted to emergency measures."

Sage sighed. "It's one of those 'ah, but it was fun while it lasted' things." She shrugged. "Interesting, though. So, who's going in and doing what?"

Ana was mentally hopping up and down and glowing at this indirect praise from her eight-limbed sex god.

"Yeah, doc," Mac crossed his arms. "If yah such a big brain, wha'd'yah think we should do?" There was a rather sarcastic note in his voice.

"Compromise." The scientist smiled a little. "One of us will go in, and purchase our breakfasts in an ordinary, civil manner. Then, on the way back, you can stop in here, and enjoy yourself. Satisfactory?"

"If you set us on the ground, Sage and I can do it," Ana offered.

"Yeah." The fantasist nodded. "I have some cash left over from buying overpriced airline drinks, probably more than enough."

"Don' see why not." Mac shrugged. He moved to the edge of the building, where the alley ran between it and it's neighbor, still clutching the Wee One in his tail.

Oct did the same, descending with a bit more noise, true, but, even so, as quietly as he could, soon reaching a level at which Ana could be safely set on solid ground. "Considering no action was taken when one of you were left, unattended, mere feet from a pay phone," a pointed glance at Mac, "I'm trusting that the two of you, watched, will kindly carry on in the same manner."

"Yeah."

"Never underestimate the loyalty of a fangirl," Ana thought out loud, not knowing, or really caring for that matter, if he heard or not. She followed Sage to the mouth of the alley then turned back. "Any preference?"

Mac considered. "Somethin with jelly."

"Apple. Strudel, or the like."

As they crossed the way, Sage had a random remark; "You know, I'm reminded of a long argument I had about danishes... There are prune danishes; there are no such thing as plum danishes. Prunes now are just baked plums, so all plum danishes are really prune danishes, unless they're raw."

Ana laughed. "And who did you have this conversation with?"

"Another Kingdom fan, a friend of mine; Amy. We were trying to identify these bright purple danishes, which brought the topic up."

A bell tinkled as they step through the door, the floor shockingly cold on Ana's bare feet. There was hardly anyone else in here at this early hourindeed, the sun was barely awakening itself. In fact, there were two non-employees there, seated at one of the little tables in a corner. One was a woman with blond crimpy hair, and the other was a woman with red hair and green eyes. Ana cocked her head as the green eyed woman investigated who else might be here this early. There was a glint of possible recognition in the green eyes, then she shrugged and turned back to what she was doing. It appeared to be practicing for a play. Ana also felt like she might recognize this girl, but kept her mouth shut and her face turned away. Better not to say anything until they were clear of earshot.

"So..." Sage, following the call of her inner sugar junkiealright, so 'inner' had no place in the sentance, she was the sugar junkie, through to the corewas admiring the contents of the display case. "Apple strudel for one, what, one of those jumbo jelly doughnuts for the other, a cream danish for myself, what're you getting?"

"Something pink with lots of rainbow sprinkles." Ana tracked down her danish of choice. "That one, right there."

"Hmn... fair enough." The sweets were pointed out, packed into a small paper bag, and, soon enough, paid for. "Gotta love all the artificial stuff, eh?" Sage grinned. "Here's what we need to do, sometime soon... Get a blender. Get chocolate ice cream, chocolate milk, nestle's quick or something similar, chocolate flakes, toss them all in and set the thing to high. We'll be wired for a day. Sound like fun?"

Once they were outside Ana leaned over and whispered. "I think that was Mary Jane in there. What if she knows about us? What if she tells Peter?"

"What, and how, would she really know?" This was asked with a raised eyebrow and throughtful expression. "We could be fictional over here, but I doubt it..."

"I mean, in the comics and stuff if Peter had a bad day, he'd vent to her. What if he told her... okay, I admit I'm overly paranoid at times. Besides, Otto baby could kick his web slinging ass in a fair fight."

"She'd still have just a general description; we don't have that many identifying features, really... I mean, in comparison I used to have my hair dyed purpletill againand wear cat ears, so that's maybe a step up."

Ana laughed. "I used to wear a cape instead of a coat."

This was met with applause. "I still wear my cloak, sometimes. For semi-formal events, actually. Blame me for wasting my formative years on Zelda. Hell, that's probably the reason for this." She gestured at the back of her left hand. "Hurt like a bitch, too."

They crossed into the alley and were scooped onto the roof by Otto's tentacles.

"Yah know where a bitchin place tah eat these would be?" Mac grinned. "I's also the best place tah catch the sunrise."

"Hmn?" Having pocketed the last of the petty cashalthough, to quote 'This magnificent feast represents the last of the petty cash!'Sage raised an eyebrow, laughing. "Oh? Keep in mind not only do I hail from a place where you can watch your dog run away for three days, but don't get out much... let's hear it."

"I's a surprise." He scooped her up with his tail. "We gotta hurry, though. I's kinda hard tah get there."

FATR: Heehee! Cliffhanger!


End file.
